A $27 million project developing alternatives to agrichemical pest management will need biologicals to be assessed and approved in New Zealand faster than they are now.
Alternative tools are becoming increasingly available for growers looking to reduce their reliance on agrichemicals in response to market and resistance challenges.
Many of these, including biologicals and digital decision support tools, have been outlined at a Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) facilitated series of events titled A Lighter Touch (ALT), a new approach to crop protection.
The $27m, seven-year ALT programme, jointly funded by industry and the government, was established in 2020 to develop and promote arable and horticultural pest management options that reduce reliance on synthetic chemistry.
FAR chief executive Alison Stewart said FAR has had a crop protection research programme centered on the use of agrichemicals since its inception almost 30 years ago.
But, she said, “we will not necessarily have that luxury into the future”.
“The challenge is how do we take our intensive arable agrichemical system and transition that to something that has a lighter touch.”
While agrichemicals are critical to management of pests and diseases in arable production systems, Stewart said their use and availability is being challenged by increasing consumer pressure, the build-up of resistance to existing agrichemicals and a reduction in new chemistry being registered in New Zealand.
ALT industry stakeholder advisory group chair Dr Stuart Davis told the Ashburton event that an impetus for the programme is the rapidly growing availability of biological products that will assist growers to transition into softer chemistry.
While new synthetic chemistry can cost US$300m (about $487m) and 11 years to develop for market, biologicals can be available in less than five years at a development cost of around US$5m.
“In the United States, it is predicted that the biologicals market could be as big as agrichemicals in 20 years at current annual growth rates.”
Already in the US, about 70% of biologicals are sold to conventional farmers.
In NZ, delays in getting approval for new products are causing frustration and the regulatory process is currently being reviewed by the government.
“Biologicals need to be assessed and approved faster than they are now,” Davis said.
FAR senior cereals researcher Jo Drummond said that while attracting premiums for using less and softer chemistry may be easier in sectors like horticulture or wine, for arable it may be more about market access.
Crop protection practices for the present and future include biological control, plant breeding and use of resistant cultivars, mechanical practices, precision agriculture and digital support and monitoring, as well as plant protection products.
“There is no option now but to layer up these strategies that can help growers successfully reduce their input costs and maintain or potentially increase profitability and yield,” Drummond said.
As a first step, growers need to pick a resistant cultivar.
They also need to consider, understand and prioritise agrichemical application timings to reduce costs and protect existing chemistry.
“Do your homework on biopesticides and biological products and be realistic. You can’t just switch one product for another.”
Decision support tools such as FAR’s online Aphid Chat are also available to assist with treatment timings.
Visiting United Kingdom plant pathologist Dr Aoife O’Driscoll told the ALT event that increasing fungicide resistance, combined with rapidly rising fungicide costs, is driving UK cereal growers to change their crop management and grow more resistant cultivars.
“In the last four years, things have changed dramatically.
“The days are gone of growing susceptible varieties and then relying on a fungicide programme to obtain good yields.
“Cereal breeding programmes are now more focused on disease resistance and growing of wheat cultivar mixes is becoming common in the UK as growers respond to resistance issues and market signals,” O’Driscoll said.
